Shinichi Shimomura
Shinichi Shimomura was the director of the "Dark Matter trilogy" of Kirby games (Dream Land 2, Dream Land 3, 64), and that's all we know about them. No, seriously, we don't even know if it's a him or a her. The Mystery As Sakurai only directly created three Kirby games and moved to consoles after Dream Land, it fell on Shimomura to make some sequels... or something. Since absolutely nothing is known about Shimomura, even the situation in which they made these games is an enigma. Anyway! Shimomura directed Dream Land 2 and 3, along with Kirby 64. We don't really know a lot about the development of those games, but the products ended up being unique compared to later Kirby games. Fansite Kirby's Rainbow Resort also seems to think that they directed Star Stacker as of 2008, but since the wikis disagree, until someone decides to check that game's credits, that will remain unverified. Shimomura then worked together with Sakurai on Nightmare in Dream Land before dropping off the face of the planet. No, seriously, no one's been able to find anything since. According to the Nintendo wiki, they've also worked on several other Kirby games doing map design and something called HyperZone as PCB Shimomura, but once more, we don't have any sources that they're one and the same at the moment. There are rumors they died, but naturally, even these rumors don't have sources, so the rumors have become rumors at this point. Theories There are several theories about what happened to Shimomura, even if no one knows for sure. *They're dead. Rumors of this abound, but short of finding Japanese obituaries from 2003, there's really no way of knowing for sure. *They just left Nintendo and are now living a quiet life. This seems to be the most common theory. Naturally, we don't know one way or the other, but who knows? *They're a pseudonym for someone else. Entirely possible. There are several theories on this below. However, it's unlikely to be someone still working on the series considering the "Sakurai style" has remained prominent even after he left HAL. *He's Sakurai. There isn't really anything backing this up, but someone on NeoGAF stated it once, so it is a theory, or something. *He is Shigesato Itoi of Mother/Earthbound fame. As theorized on /v/, the Dark Matter trilogy holds several thematic similarities with the Mother/Earthbound trilogy. This is also considered unlikely, partially due to the lack of sources within the arguments and partially due to Zero being seen as clashing with Itoi's style, although it has yet to be disproven. *He was Iwata. An unsourced Reddit post discusses this. As mentioned in the comments, Iwata and Shimomura had different drawing styles, essentally debunking this theory. Itoi (possible but unlikely), Sakurai (extremely unlikely), just some guy who directed the games References Reference 1.PNG|Kirby's Rainbow Resort. Dated July 19, 2008. Reference 2.PNG|Nintendo Wiki. The same bibliography can also be found on websites such as MobyGames. Reference 10.PNG|The first mention of the Itoi theory. Reference 11.PNG|The second mention of the theory. While it's heavily challenged, it's also included here because it's the only theory with any arguments in its favor. Reference 3.jpg|Kirby's Adventure credits. Reference 4.jpg|Kirby's Dream Course credits. Reference 5.jpg|Kirby Super Star credits. Reference 7.jpg|Dream Land 2 credits. Reference 6.jpg|Dream Land 3 credits. Reference 9.jpg|Kirby 64 credits. Reference 8.jpg|Nightmare in Dream Land credits. Reference 12.PNG|PCB Shimomura appears in HyperZone's credits. It's likely that PCB and Shinichi Shimomura are one and the same considering it's a HAL game, but we still don't know for certain. It's notable that “Hyper Zone” is the name of the final level of Kirby's Dream Land 3 Sources *The Lost Kirby Games: Shinichi Shimomura and the Dark Matter Trilogy (NintendoWorldReport) *Shinichi Shimomura (Nintendo Wiki) *Kirby's History #11.5: Mystery of Shimomura (Kirby Amino) Category:People Category:Nintendo